The humble spreadsheet is far more than just a table with a bunch of numbers, and it can be used for far more than computing statistics. If used correctly, it can be a powerful tool, on par with learning how to code. Do you ever spend hours plugging numbers into the same equation for your chemistry homework or wonder about how hard you need to work to secure an A for the semester? Spreadsheets are uniquely capable of combining automation/calculation with user-friendly interfaces. Learn how to make formulas do your bidding: we'll show you how to make specialized calculators and leaderboards, process massive lists of text, and create interactive apps. We'll solve programming problems without any traditional coding and will even look at challenges from the Microsoft Excel World Championships (a real competition!) Please bring a laptop; you'll want to have access to a Google Drive account.

A central idea behind the mathematical field of combinatorics is finding why seemingly unrelated mathematical expressions are equal, without needing to dive into messy algebra. One particularly elegant and intuitive way to do so is double counting: we tell a story, look at it from two different perspectives, allowing us to represent the same thing in two different ways mathematically. We'll puzzle out how to interpret sums, products, and more as tangible stories and images: learn what taking a walk in Manhattan has to do with Pascal's Triangle and how assembling a team of cats and dogs can simplify a scary-seeming sum. On a personal note, taking a class like this when I was in middle school helped me realize the creativity hidden in math and contributed to combinatorics being one of my favorite subjects. I hope to present a similar experience to others in an accessible manner.

Do you want the entire world to know your secrets? I don't either. That's why humans have spent thousands of years inventing more and more elaborate ways to conceal and encrypt information so that only authorized people can access it, and why even more effort has been put into cracking these ciphers. We'll discuss the historical developments that have brought the field of cryptography to where it is today, and what it would theoretically require to construct a perfect "cryptosystem". We'll then transition into speaking about the simple, yet deceptively difficult unsolved math problems that underlie modern cryptography, showcasing some creative proof techniques along the way.

Puzzle hunts are a fun way to solve puzzles together with friends! The goal is to solve several puzzles that culminate in a final challenge, called a 'metapuzzle'. After a presentation teaching common solving strategies, you'll have the opportunity to work on a small puzzle hunt with others. You don't need any specialized puzzle-solving knowledge to participate.